Nearholmer Posted August 2, 2020 Share Posted August 2, 2020 I thought at some distant stage in the ever-evolving history of this particular part of WN, there was an experimental steam (possibly it was clockwork) submarine station at Birchoverham Staithe, but I may have misremembered. Anyway, something that you might wish to include on the layout is a very large eagle. On Thursday, early evening, we were driving along a straight road near Grimston and up a head I could see a great botheration of rooks circulating around around a clump of large trees. As we came under the trees, about 100m ahead of us and about 50m up a bl00dy enormous eagle with a white tail crossed left to right. It was big enough to look about the size of a man with wings. Having Googled since, it appears that I probably wasn’t hallucinating ...... such birds do visit Norfolk. 3 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Northroader Posted August 2, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 2, 2020 Yes, there was a film about it wasn’t there? 1 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted August 2, 2020 Author Share Posted August 2, 2020 54 minutes ago, Nearholmer said: I thought at some distant stage in the ever-evolving history of this particular part of WN, there was an experimental steam (possibly it was clockwork) submarine station at Birchoverham Staithe, but I may have misremembered. Anything is possible! 54 minutes ago, Nearholmer said: I could see a great botheration of rooks circulating around around a clump of large trees. While 'parliament' seems to be the most common collective noun applied to rooks (a building and a clamor receive honourable mentions), it was clearly a botheration in the circumstances you describe! Since you've circumvented parliament, I offer a collective noun for special advisers; a sinister of special advisers. 54 minutes ago, Nearholmer said: As we came under the trees, about 100m ahead of us and about 50m up a bl00dy enormous eagle with a white tail crossed left to right. It was big enough to look about the size of a man with wings. Having Googled since, it appears that I probably wasn’t hallucinating ...... such birds do visit Norfolk. Pretty impressive. I'm bound to echo Northroader and ask if it laneded! 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted August 2, 2020 Share Posted August 2, 2020 Just now, Northroader said: Yes, there was a film about it wasn’t there? By Jove, Carruthers! Thats a biggun!!! (but not much of a catch to be recommended by the Express...) 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted August 2, 2020 Share Posted August 2, 2020 1 minute ago, Edwardian said: Since you've circumvented parliament, I offer a collective noun for special advisers; a sinister of special advisers. How about a Slime or Slough of special advisers. Or perhaps a Blindness thereof? 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted August 2, 2020 Share Posted August 2, 2020 Its quite a good "long, boring train ride" book, but I've never seen the film, the cast of which seems to have included St JA and Larry Hagman, which seems a really strange combination. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedGemAlchemist Posted August 2, 2020 Share Posted August 2, 2020 1 hour ago, Nearholmer said: I thought at some distant stage in the ever-evolving history of this particular part of WN, there was an experimental steam (possibly it was clockwork) submarine station at Birchoverham Staithe, but I may have misremembered. Anyway, something that you might wish to include on the layout is a very large eagle. On Thursday, early evening, we were driving along a straight road near Grimston and up a head I could see a great botheration of rooks circulating around around a clump of large trees. As we came under the trees, about 100m ahead of us and about 50m up a bl00dy enormous eagle with a white tail crossed left to right. It was big enough to look about the size of a man with wings. Having Googled since, it appears that I probably wasn’t hallucinating ...... such birds do visit Norfolk. Cool. Didn't realise white-tailed eagles had returned to this area. I'll have to tell my family's resident twitcher (aka my Nan). 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted August 2, 2020 Share Posted August 2, 2020 1 hour ago, Nearholmer said: I thought at some distant stage in the ever-evolving history of this particular part of WN, there was an experimental steam (possibly it was clockwork) submarine station at Birchoverham Staithe, but I may have misremembered. It would have been nice, but the K class steam submarines were 1913 era devices, though the Holland class subs were active in the early 1900s and were actually deployed to deal with the Russian Fishing Boat Sinking Fleet in 1904 but withdrawn before making an attack on the Russkies. Holland class submarines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Holland_1 K class submarines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_K-class_submarine The Ks were intended to be Fleet submarines and intended to be able to keep up with Dreadnaughts and Battlecruisers... Their main drawback was the time taken to shut down the boilers and strike the funnels before diving! It would be interesting for the WNR to serve a base specialising in dodgy early submarines and fishery protection vessels... 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schooner Posted August 2, 2020 Share Posted August 2, 2020 5 hours ago, Edwardian said: The Victorian Navy saw such rapid change - technological change in hull construction and armour, boilers and engines, and ordnance, and evolving tactical and strategic considerations - that ships became obsolete long before they became worn out. I'm reading the Cruisers volume at the moment and it seems that if a ship remained in commission for 15 years, it was doing pretty well. Something I thought I had a fair handle on, but underwent something of an epiphany when introduced to Rule the Waves. Not that any of us need another time-sink, and I appreciate it's not a core interest for parishoners, but I can wholeheartedly endorse the favourable review, linked. The successor is just as brilliant, if even more complex. Fascinating subject, I wish you joy of your studies 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted August 2, 2020 Share Posted August 2, 2020 (edited) 20 minutes ago, Hroth said: It would be interesting for the WNR to serve a base specialising in dodgy early submarines and fishery protection vessels... Definitely! I like the sound of the Holland Class because they were petrol-electric with lead-acid batteries ....... just my type of Edwardian Tech. The Wolseley 4-cylinder 160hp engine was I think the same as that used for various railcars at about the same time. There were some similarly-equipped RN surface vessels, called something like despatch boats, used to carry messages within a fleet I think ....... very racy little things with multiple engines and three propellers. PS: Yes, Motor Despatch Boats, which seem to have been what MGBs, MTBs, E-boats etc evolved from. They were hitting 25 knots at about "our period". Edited August 2, 2020 by Nearholmer 2 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Compound2632 Posted August 2, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 2, 2020 Now thanks to you lot I got distracted into reading up on the Imperial Japanese Navy's squadron posted to the Mediterranean during the Great War, based at Malta, escorting allied convoys between Gibraltar and the Suez Canal. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Northroader Posted August 2, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 2, 2020 (edited) They were protecting them from Von Trapp in his submarine (There was a film about him, too, or don’t you wish to know that?) Edited August 2, 2020 by Northroader 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Compound2632 Posted August 2, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 2, 2020 1 minute ago, Northroader said: They were protecting them from Von Trapp in his submarine (There was a film about him, too?) It's a ... ! 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted August 2, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 2, 2020 1 hour ago, Edwardian said: While 'parliament' seems to be the most common collective noun applied to rooks (a building and a clamor receive honourable mentions), What is our Parliament, if not a building full of clamour? Quote it was clearly a botheration in the circumstances you describe! Could also be applied to a group of Parliamentarians, especially by special advisors. 1 hour ago, Edwardian said: Since you've circumvented parliament, I offer a collective noun for special advisers; a sinister of special advisers. The plural I don’t usually mind: in normal times, the number of differing opinions means they cancel each other out (a “nothingness” of special advisors?) But these are not normal times, and we seem to be under the influence if not control of an unelected advisor, who rose to prominence by raising a lot of noise about the EU being run by a group of unelected officials.... Perhaps a “singularity” of special advisors? 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedGemAlchemist Posted August 2, 2020 Share Posted August 2, 2020 24 minutes ago, Regularity said: Perhaps a “singularity” of special advisors? There is a term for that. I am not allowed to type it on this site though. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted August 2, 2020 RMweb Gold Share Posted August 2, 2020 1 minute ago, RedGemAlchemist said: There is a term for that. I am not allowed to type it on this site though. Does it have some letters, say the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th - in that order - in common with a steel town in what was formerly Lincolnshire? 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium St Enodoc Posted August 2, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 2, 2020 2 hours ago, Edwardian said: While 'parliament' seems to be the most common collective noun applied to rooks (a building and a clamor receive honourable mentions), it was clearly a botheration in the circumstances you describe! I'd always thought that a 'parliament' was of owls but this website confirms that you are right (as usual): https://www.countrylife.co.uk/nature/collective-nouns-for-birds-68344 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted August 2, 2020 Share Posted August 2, 2020 A 'contrivance' of collective nouns. 4 1 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wagonman Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 15 hours ago, RedGemAlchemist said: Cool. Didn't realise white-tailed eagles had returned to this area. I'll have to tell my family's resident twitcher (aka my Nan). The ones introduced to the Isle of Wight have been known to travel widely – wouldn't you if dumped on the IoW – including East Anglia. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-52528155 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 (edited) 14 hours ago, Nearholmer said: A 'contrivance' of collective nouns. I got stuck behind a Lumber of Lorries the other day.... A Spin of special advisers would also be appropriate. Edited August 3, 2020 by Hroth more thorts 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
joppyuk1 Posted August 3, 2020 Share Posted August 3, 2020 On 01/08/2020 at 17:50, webbcompound said: A Victorian fleet magically disappears and resurfaces in a drowned future version of London in this tome I imagine. Or do you mean Admiral G.A. Ballard? I thought, as soon as I pressed the button, "you should have checked the bookshelf first!". Never got on with the other chaps dystopian fiction. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted August 3, 2020 Author Share Posted August 3, 2020 (edited) 34 minutes ago, joppyuk1 said: I thought, as soon as I pressed the button, "you should have checked the bookshelf first!". Never got on with the other chaps dystopian fiction. Yes, a typo that had gratifying unintended consequences, but turning to the work of the Ballard you find less Admira{b}l{e} ... I found it well written, compellingly so, but perhaps more prescient than it is cheerful! The central theme, as I saw it, of Drowned World, was the tension between a survivalist resistance to the altered conditions, which is perhaps seen as ultimately futile, and the protagonist changing his outlook to embrace or adapt to the new environment, becoming part of it, rather than at odds with it. I wonder if there something for us there in the Age of Covid? Edited August 3, 2020 by Edwardian BB code making it all bold! 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Annie Posted August 8, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 8, 2020 I am beginning to think there's been an alien invasion since nobody has been posting lately. 4 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted August 8, 2020 Share Posted August 8, 2020 Most of Britain is under heavy attack by furiously strong radiation rays from outer-space at the moment, so pretty much as you say. 2 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Annie Posted August 8, 2020 RMweb Premium Share Posted August 8, 2020 Those are crazy temperatures. Here in NZ we might see those kinds of temperatures in the middle of our Summer once in a while, - or at least where I live in the Waikato we do, - but those are utterly un-British like temperatures. Your humidity is lower than what we get which is something that you might be grateful for. 2 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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